by Jez Cajiao
“Wait; you mean if I had symbols that you sanctified, then people could pray to you now?”
“Of course. I was hoping you’d want to spread knowledge of me to your people; after all, what good is dedicating the Tower to me if that’s all you ever do? It’d take centuries before I could grow my reach again without prayers.”
“You mean they could pray to you now? Just because they’re inside the Tower, and it’s dedicated to you?” I asked, my mind racing with the possibilities.
“Yes, and I see what’s in your mind. Here,” Jenae said, amusement and excitement clear in her voice.
You have been offered a Quest! ‘My God is better than your God…’
For every two worshippers you bring to Jenae’s service, she will grant you one Mark of Favor. To qualify, a worshipper must donate at least ten mana per third day to Jenae…
Will you accept? Yes/No…
“What if they donate a lot more, like a hundred a day; that goes towards my totals?"
"You said I needed…ten thousand mana and five marks of Favor for each star in the first ring, right?” I asked, summoning the Starscape with a thought.
As before, it started with a tiny spark flickering to life before me; then, like a fire burning through dry paper, it spread, blazing through the air until it reached a meter square, and I could see into the blackened section. Inside, a single star glimmered and pulsed. Set in a ring around it were six more stars, all dead. A faint line ran from the first star to each of the others, then beyond them I could just see the lines disappearing into the darkness, hinting at the stars hidden beyond. Some had multiple lines, and I just wanted them all! The completionist gamer in me cried out at the sight, just as it had whenever I’d looked at since Jenae had first given me access.
I knew the names of the first six stars, but not really what they’d give me, beyond the basic details Jenae had shared:
Enhanced Construction was at the top; then rolling clockwise, it went to Magical Research, Crafting, Governance, Personal Enhancement, and Exploration. I knew from our last conversation that unlocking one of the stars would grant me options for dedicating my mana, and once they unlocked, I’d get help, advice, blueprints all of it from the Goddess. I needed it all!
“If your people donate their mana to me, then yes, I’ll count it against the mana cost of the Constellation of Secrets. If I didn’t, it’d take you centuries to unlock even a fraction of a fraction."
"However, the Tower’s tithe to me does not count. That was already bargained for and accepted.” I’d been about to ask, so I shrugged and moved on.
“So, for each worshipper I bring you, you will grant me a Mark of Favor and their mana donations count towards my total, right?” I said, quickly tallying figures in my head.
“No, every two worshippers, Jax. Good try, but I’ve had millennia to play these games; do you really want to play with me?”
“Ah, no. Now that you mention it, I really don’t… okay, every two will grant me a Mark. Done deal. Lastly, I’m going to start looking for a healer to help with my problem and with generally keeping things together; any ideas?”
“The person you need isn’t amongst your people. I took the time to examine them since we last spoke. You could force a healer, give someone the memories and Spellbooks, but they’d be average at best. You need to grow your population, that’s all I can tell you. Now… I have things to do, but don’t forget to spread the word about me!”
I felt the sense of her presence disappear, and I sat back in my chair to think. Lifting one boot, then the other, I rested them on the table, crossing my ankles and relaxing, my mind awhirl with the possibilities.
I could maybe get access to a star of the Constellation in a couple of days if I asked my people to do it anyway. Even if only half were willing, I still had, what, forty people at present? There were the nineteen from the Warship, then there were… I thought for a minute, and an old quest notification popped up:
Completed:
Congratulations, you have made progress on your Quest: A place to lay your head.
Wisps sworn fealty: 3/3
Locations cleared and secured: 5/5
SporeMother killed: 1/1
Guardians: 11/10
Servitors: 27/10
Reward: The Great Tower is yours to command. Surrounding area will become aware of your rightful ownership. Access to supplies and facilities. 450,000 Exp.
I grinned and took the Servitor golem from that total, giving me twenty-six, then I took the three dead from the list, taking me down to eight guardians.
I had a total of fifty-three people sworn to me. I hadn’t realized I had so many living in the Tower, and I still had another twenty or more that were locked up. If half the people sworn to me would worship Jenae and donate their mana to her each day just once, say, fifty mana per person—couldn’t expect people to drain themselves and get a headache every day, after all—uh…
It took a minute, but I eventually worked out that half of fifty-three was twenty-six. That’d be thirteen Marks of Favor and thirteen hundred mana… Crap. That was access to the Starscape in just under eight days for the first star. Once that was unlocked, I could start to earn benefits from it. Double crap…
Math was never my strong point, and I also knew that I’d refused to let the kids swear fealty, so they weren’t counted yet. It just felt wrong to force them into that when they really didn’t have a choice.
There were five ‘kids’ out of the original slave group, and four that we’d freed from the Warship, so nine in total. I had no idea what to do with them; hell, I barely had a plan for the adults!
I knew that they were basically safe in the Tower from attack, as Seneschal was watching over things, but still, the damn place was crumbling. They could fall down a hole or something, and it would all be my fault, I just knew it.
I got up and headed back up the Tower. Ideally, I’d have everyone and everything centralized on the bottom floors, so we weren’t constantly climbing, but it just wasn’t safe. I’d have to just get my head around the damn climb for now.
It took about half an hour to get to the twenty-sixth floor, and as I approached it, I could hear a lot of noises filtering down to the stairs below: shouts, laughter, clattering and banging, and a final crash of falling stone, followed by a cheer that stopped my sudden panic over a collapse just as it began.
I set off jogging the last bit, anyway, coming out onto the floor to find it abuzz with people. Almost the entire contingent of the Tower was there; Barrett stood off to the right, directing his ‘security’ force and the wanna-be hunters.
He had them picking up rock and debris, running to the edge of the balcony, and chucking them as far out as they could, dropping to do five pushups, then running back inside. I caught his eye and he grinned, jogging over to meet me.
“What do you think? I took what you said about your own training, and thought, ‘why not make them useful at the same time?’” I nodded to him, thinking back to the interval training I’d endured, and as much as I’d damn well hated it, it was bloody effective.
“How are they coming along? Do you need anything?” I asked him, and he shook his head.
“For now, it’s best they have the bare minimum. I have armor we can mostly fix up from the ship and yesterday’s fight, and a load of melee weapons. We’ll need some bows for the hunters; we’ve only got four, and a couple dozen arrows, but no sense wasting them yet.”
“Best to teach them to work together first,” I agreed, nodding, “I don’t know if you’ve seen Oracle yet, but…”
“You’ve got some batshit crazy plan?” Barrett asked, chuckling. “I saw her come up a few minutes before you. She had a quick word with Oren, and he went stomping off swearing. Looks like it’s gonna be bad.”
“You could say that,” I said, drawing him off to the side. “Look, it’s a bit of a mad plan, maybe, but it gives us what we need—time—and it’ll hurt Barabarattas.”
“Plus, we
might be able to get some of the crew’s families back here, IF I can pull it off…you like the sound of it so far?” I asked and got a shark-like grin in return.
“Jax, my sister is all I have left. She’s stuck in that shithole of a city, probably thinking I’m dead, especially if I don’t get back soon."
"I’ll do anything that gets her somewhere safe and feeds her and her bairn.” He raised one eyebrow as he looked at me. “Judging from Oren’s reaction, it’s not something I’m gonna want to hear, so enough sugar coating. What is it?”
“We’re going to raid Barabarattas’s stockpile of manastones and steal them all, and as much gear, food, and materials for the Tower as we can. I’m going to need some help to pull it off; who do we know who’s still in the city?” I asked with an apologetic grin.
“Our families,” Barrett said in a flat tone, frowning at me. “Look, I’m all for getting them out, and hitting that bastard of a lord where it hurts? Yeah, I’m in for that any day, but you have to understand, most of our families are working around the clock… and the guards watch them. They’re leverage over us; you understand? So, either they’re at work, or they’re flat-out exhausted. If you turn up, a total stranger, and try to get them to help you, it won’t happen. It’d take the entire crew days to gather up their families alone, never mind sneaking them out, and that’s people that they know and trust. Unless you think we’ve got months to hide in the city in order to try to get things planned out, it’ll never work.”
“I’m planning on a few days, and that’s it. We can’t risk more than that. They’ll be expecting this ship back soon, after all.” I rubbed my chin, disappointment burning through me. This was the way to do it; I knew it, felt it balls to bones. I knew it was never going to be easy, but…
“How many people are we talking?” I asked, having just assumed until now that the families would be small, two to four members, like I’d known back home.
“Well, I just have my sister and her lad, since her husband died years back. Oren’s got two kids, a wife, and his father. Most of the crew have wives or husbands and kiddies, some parents and brothers and sisters; at least fifty? Probably not more than a hundred or so, maybe two when you think of friends, and more if you want to try to recruit any of the ship’s crew up there…” he said, pausing as he took in the look on my face. “What’s wrong?”
“I…okay, we can work with that,” I said, deliberately forcing myself to smile, my mind awhirl as I tried to figure out what to do. I’d had it in my head that I’d have about twenty to thirty extra people, maybe forty at the most. Just considering that, I knew I needed to have a proper plan in place.
A hundred or more would leave the ship ram-packed, with no room for cargo, but if we got half the crew or less, the rest would soon be swept up by Barabarattas’ watchers when the others vanished, along with his manastones. Feck.
“Look, I’m not saying we can’t do it, Jax, just that it’s going to take some work. I need to get back to my people. Go talk to Oren; he’s had some time to think about it now, and Oracle is still buzzing around a like a glow bug on crack. She obviously still thinks it can be done.”
“Well, here’s hoping. Oh, and Barrett, I need you to get everyone together for me. There’s a group of farmers on the tenth floor, in the balcony gardens, I think. Everyone else seems to be here, but if you could make sure?"
"And get them here as soon as possible, please; I need to speak to everyone in, say, an hour or so?” Barrett nodded and grinned devilishly.
“Looks like my lads and lasses get to do some running, then!”
I nodded to him, and he saluted, jogging back to shout at someone that was taking a break in between pushups. “What are you doin’, maggot! Get your lazy arse up right now and…” I tuned his irate screaming out as I headed toward the ship. He was so much like a drill sergeant I’d had in basic; it was scary. It was also reassuring, though. As much as officers were the head of the army, sergeants were always the heart.
By the time I reached Oren, who stood on the deck of the warship, I had a smile back on my face, determination filling me again. There was a way to do this, I just knew it. I just had to find it.
“Aye, laddie, I bin’ hearin’ all about yer latest madness!” he said as I reached him, looking up at me and nodding in respect. “As usual, ye dinna do things by half!” I grinned right back at him.
“You know me, Oren! Got to up the game, after all. What do you think of my plan?”
“Well, the way Oracle explained it t’ me, it willna work,” he said bluntly, then shook his head. “I wish it would, ye ken? But the first thing t’ guard will do when we land is search t’ ship. We canna just hide ye aboard.”
“Dammit!” I cursed. “I thought, I don’t know, that you’d have a little stash somewhere, a smuggler’s compartment or something…” I said, thinking back to a movie I’d loved as a kid.
“Weeeeeell….” Oren said, drawing the word out. “I mighta had one on me old ship… just in case, ye understand…but this ship? Nah, she be clean o’ such things… sadly.”
“Double fuck,” I muttered, when an idea struck me, and I stared at Oren. “You’d not have such a spot on your old ship unless you knew someone that would make use of such things. Tell me all about it, mate.”
“Ah, well… mebbe I mighta occasionally done a wee bit o’ rubbin’ shoulders with the less than legal kinda people…”
“Oren, we’re going to be raiding the city lord’s war supplies, and probably killing his soldiers to do it. I don’t give two shits about legal. Gimme…” I straightened up and stretched, then led him off toward the more private upper deck.
“Ach, no, laddie, we dinna want t’ be up there… last o’ the corpses are there. Oracle said ye needed ‘em fer Bob. They be a bit… ripe.” With a jerk of his head, he instead indicated for us to lean against the railings, looking out over the forest with the Tower at our backs.
“Well, laddie, I guess it be time t’ talk a bit aboot me past. Ye ken I were a trader, along with Decin, aye?” he said, looking up at me.
“Yeah, you said; what’s that got…”
“Just trust me, there be a point t’ this.” He lifted one hand, and I settled against the railing, frowning at him.
“Okay, mate, tell me the whole story, then.” I gestured for him, and Oren shifted his gaze back to looking out over the treetops. He was silent for a long minute before the memories began pouring out.
“It were a good life… it were hard, dinna get me wrong. I had t’ go into debt to a lot o’ people t’ be able to afford me own ship. Me da borrowed gold from t’ clan, we got investors, and I took some gold from a… friend… who said he’d just ask me for a wee favor now and then, that were all.” Oren snorted and shook his head, his beard waggling, and he ran his fingers through his hair as he thought back to those days.
“Oh, I was so naïve! Business were good, I had contracts from t’ guilds, I ferried people back an’ forth to t’ Narkolt and other nearby villages, not t’ mention a few trips out t’ the Sunken City. I met some good people, loved ma life; I thought it’d go on forever. I thought I had it made fer life.” He snorted and spat over the side. “Then t’ war came. Overnight, it were treachery t’ be dealin’ wit Narkolt. T’ villages couldna afford t’ pay for ma goods, not wi’ t’ new taxes. Research at t’ Sunken City were cancelled, and all that were left were a few wee deals here an’ there. Mostly runnin’ t’ scummy tax collectors back an’ forth. I hated it.”
“I bet, mate. I’m sorry to hear it, though,” I said. Oren shook his head, continuing.
“Then me old friend, he comes outta t’ woodwork. Says he knows I need gold, an’ I’d already bin droppin’ off a wee package here an’ there for ‘his friends’. I knew what it were, smugglin’, but I didna care. It were only a wee bit, after all, and it were t’ keep me ship in t’ air. A dwarf has t’ pay ‘is debts, ye ken?”
He looked up at me from under one bushy eyebrow, as though waiting for me
to condemn him. I grinned back at him and he nodded, relieved.
“I do.” I said, smiling at the use of ‘ken’ in place of ‘know’ or ‘understand’, the memories of the Scots I used to drink with coming to mind.
“Aye, well, turns out tha’ me old friend; let’s just call ‘im ‘Mal,’ alright? Well, Mal happened t’ ken a wee way fer me te make a wee bit more gold, an’ I were already going tha’ way, takin’ th’ taxman t’ the villages. Why no’ drop a wee parcel off here and there, mebbe pickin’ up a wee bit extra, too? Taxman didna care what I was doin’, as he were t’ busy t’ see. Thought I were under their thumb. It got t’ be a bit o’ a game; t’ villages were payin’ t’ taxes wi’ gold from t’ city. Half t’ time, it were gold I was carryin’ out on t’ ship, passin’ it over all subtle-like, an’ they’d be turnin’ around an’ givin’ it straight back t’ the taxman.”
I grinned at that, imagining the villagers laughing their asses off at the trick.
“Then came th’ day me contact were late. Taxman made me take off wi’ out the time t’ take th’ gold onboard. I gave th’ villagers what I had; me own gold, ye understand? It were all I had, but it were no’ enough. I tried t’ reason wi’ th’ taxman, but he were a bastard. Stripped th’ village o’ anythin’ valuable. He would ha’ taken th’ chief’s daughter too, ‘cept I put me foot down an’ refused, said he’d be walkin’ back iff’n he did.”
“Good man,” I said, a thread of anger rising at the detail. This realm seemed to be so in favor of slavery, it made my damn blood boil!
“Aye, well, it meant tha’ when I landed back at Himnel, I were arrested, fined, an’ they took ma contract."
"Taxman went back a few days later wit’ another ship. Th’ scumbag captain o’ the ‘Star’s Glory’, Bateman, e’ were happy te take it, and they brought her back still. Sold ‘er at th’ slave market. So, I lost me contract fer nothin’.”
